Ahead of tonight's premiere of the second season of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, questions have finally been answered about whether Russell Armstrong will feature in the show, following his suicide three weeks ago.

The show's executive producer Douglas Ross confirmed on this morning's edition of The Today Show that the late, estranged husband of star Taylor Armstrong would not be appearing in the first few episodes.

His comments came as three cast members Adrienne Maloof, Kyle Richards and Lisa Vanderpump, spoke out for the first time since Russell's death.

'In
the first few episodes that we've finished editing, Russell is not
included in these episodes,' Ross said during the appearance. 'But it is important to know
that Taylor's story is told throughout the season.'

They also admitted there was some thought about whether the season would go ahead.

'I think we all had to reflect at some point,' admitted Adrienne.

Their responses came just days after Russell's mother John Ann
Hotchkiss released a statement expressing her dissatisfaction that the season would not be delayed following her son's death by hanging at a friend's house in L.A. on August 15.

Difficult: Lisa Vanderpump revealed she had spent a few evenings with cast mate Taylor Armstrong, who had been 'trying to digest' the events of the past few weeks

Speaking out: Kyle came to the defence of the reality show, saying that Russell Armstrong had signed up for season two, while Adrienne said they had to 'reflect' following the tragedy

'When I was informed of this, I thought, "I hope Bravo will take the
high road and keep it tasteful. Let's not murder my son twice."

She
said: "I began to notice things starting to fray when the television
thing came into being, and I was very concerned. The programme itself
really brought him down.'

However Kyle reiterated that Russell had 'signed up for season one and came back for season two.'

She
added: 'When we started the show, they cast six women and they didn't
really know anything about our story.

Not appearing: Russell Armstrong, seen here in a first season episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, will not be seen in the first few episodes of the new season

'They didn't know in season one
that Kelsey was going to leave Camille or the issues between my sister
(Kim) and me. They certainly didn't know the troubles that he had.'

'This show is about
six strong, aggressive, successful beautiful women and their stories,' added Ross.
'And although Taylor and Russell's story is a part of it, it's not the
whole show.

'But we did want to address it appropriately and that's why
tonight's episode gets the entire cast together to sit down and
reflect and talk about their feelings of sadness and grief and try to
put the season we shot six months ago in perspective.'

Controversial: Tonight's season premiere of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills will go ahead as planned despite the Armstrong tragedy